UNHCR explains benefits of registering refugees

The UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, has explained why it is important for refugees to be registered anywhere they are.

This was contained in a post on the agency’s website. The post was titled ‘Registration and Identity management.’

When people are forced to flee their homes to escape war, persecution or violence, the UNHCR said: “the registration and documentation by States or by UNHCR is a key first step in ensuring their protection.”

The agency went on to say that: “Registration and identification of refugees is key for the people concerned, as well as for States to know who has arrived, and facilitates access to basic assistance and protection. The process of registration enables the early identification of individuals with specific needs within a population and their referral to an available protection response. The very fact of being registered can protect against refoulement (forced return), arbitrary arrest and detention. It helps keep families together and assists UNHCR in reuniting separated children with their families.

“The individual data collected during registration provides the comprehensive population data needed for programme planning, including for shelter, food, water, health and sanitation facilities, cash-based interventions and other forms of targeted assistance. Registration data is also an important tool in ensuring the integrity of refugee protection systems and preventing and combating fraud, corruption and crime, including trafficking in persons.

“Increasingly, identity documentation is issued by government authorities, even where registration is still carried out by UNHCR. Government-recognised identity documentation can constitute proof of legal identity which is key to the legal, socio-economic and digital inclusion of persons of concern within their host communities. For example, a proof of identity credential, such as an ID card, can facilitate greater freedom of movement in the host country, empower refugees to open bank accounts, register for a SIM card and access online services and opportunities available to citizens everywhere.

“As part of the Global Compact on Refugees, UNHCR has undertaken to share resources and expertise to strengthen national capacity for individual registration and documentation, including support for digitalization, biometrics and other relevant technology, as well as the sharing of quality registration data, disaggregated by age, gender, disability, and diversity, and in line with data protection and privacy principles.”

For more in depth information about registration and identity management practices at UNHCR, please visit our Guidance on Registration and Identity Management.